Summary: Isaiah teaches us that the Messiah’s worldwide mission is to preach good news, to replace shame with honor, to make an everlasting covenant, and to bring great joy.

Our Scripture reading in this Advent season brings us to Isaiah 61:1-11. In this text we read about God’s worldwide mission. This text teaches us what God’s Anointed One will do when God comes down. And it also teaches us what we will do when God comes down. Isaiah wants to inspire in us such admiration for God’s Anointed One that we gladly give ourselves to his cause.

The essence of Christianity is joy. God’s message to the world was summarized by the angel at the birth of Jesus: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10).

That’s significant, because, life is tough. When I was young I found happiness in sports. But, of course, that didn’t last. To get more happiness, I had to find new ways to make myself happy. I turned to alcohol. Others turned to drugs, or sex, or whatever.

But it wasn’t until I turned to God that I found true happiness and peace and fulfillment—and joy. I found what the angel announced 2,000 years earlier—“good news of great joy.”